Childhood Poverty Debated in Advance of the G-8 Summit

The G8 summit of industrialized nations begins Wednesday in Gleneagles, Scotland. But another conference is underway in advance of the G8 – the so-called “C8 Summit,” sponsored by UNICEF. The “C8” includes eight children from the wealthy G8 countries and eight from countries considered to be among the poorest in the world: Guinea, Sierra Leone, Lesotho, Yemen, Bolivia, Bhutan, Cambodia and Moldova.

The children’s conference is taking place in the Scottish town of Dunblane, about 10 miles west of the G8 conference site.

David Bull is the executive director of UNICEF. He told Voice of America reporter Joe De Capua that the children of the C8 summit are discussing poverty, conflict, HIV-AIDS, education and other issues that affect them. Among the proposals that they will likely pass on to G8 summit leaders are debt relief, aid, and the lowering of trade barriers for African products imported into the United States, and the end of subsidies for crops grown in the West. The children say these measures will lead to a drop in the poverty that afflicts them.